


Mango

by BronzeAgeLove



Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Developing Relationship, F/F, Fluff, Memories, giveaway present
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-03
Updated: 2019-03-03
Packaged: 2019-11-07 06:54:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17955701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BronzeAgeLove/pseuds/BronzeAgeLove
Summary: Sara Ryder and Zevin Raeka take a break from their Pathfinder duties to talk a little about their past





	Mango

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AraniWrites](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AraniWrites/gifts).



> Long overdue giveaway present for my 250 Followers Giveaway for AraniWrites! Thank you so much for your patience <3

They never got a lot of free time, what with them both being busy as pathfinders. There was always something to do, an unending stream of messages, pleas, requests for help, as if pathfinders were a cure-all solution for what ailed the Heleus Cluster. Annoying and depressing, most of the time. But whenever Sara and Raeka could get together, they would. Sometimes to explore their tentative relationship, sometimes simply to talk and enjoy the other‘s company far away from their duties.

“Hey Sara?“

Raeka was lounging on Sara‘s bed on the Tempest, her long slim body outstretched. An unusual calmness surrounded the salarian who would, at usual, be all over the place, organizing, dispatching, working on. Sara set down the two glasses of water she‘d fetched from the galley.

“Yeah?“

“What do you miss most about the Milky Way?”

“Is that a trick question?”

Raeka’s big black eyes didn’t betray anything. Around them, the Tempest’s engines hummed on, a calm, steady buzz that had become part of Sara‘s life. At times, Sara wondered whether she would ever understand salarian facial expressions, or if she’d always find it unnerving, the way she’d see herself reflected in the dark. Salarian eyes always drew her in, gave her the impression she was expected to confess something.

When no answer came, Sara flopped into the cushions with a groan, snuggling up to Raeka. Funny how cool Raeka was to the touch. So unlike humans. And though Sara had imagined it to be weird in the beginning, hugging Raeka didn’t feel bad at all. On the contrary.

“Mango,” she said, her voice low. Sara regretted her answer the second the word left her mouth, because it did sound childish, to be sentimental about such an unimportant thing when one was a pathfinder in a new galaxy, when whole colonies were depending on her. Even more so with the kett looming like a shadow over everything the Initiative had accomplished. They still hadn’t found Meridian. But Sara had had never wanted the job in the first place.

“What‘s Mango?” Raeka asked, propping herself up on her elbows. Her markings shone in the artificial light, highlighting her facial features in a peculiar way that made Sara smile. She‘d grown affectionate towards Raeka in the last weeks, with the missions they absolved together, tidbits of personal life exchanged here and there. Exciting, to be sharing those morsels of information, as if trying to put together the puzzle that had been their lives back in the Milky Way.

“It’s a fruit... from Earth.”

“A fruit? Okay.” Raeka blinked slowly while she processed the unexpected answer, before rolling onto her side to face Sara. Raeka wasn't someone to beat around the bush. “I imagined you’d say something with more significance. Your network of friends, or the Council’s political stability, or infrastructure. Not a fruit.”

Sara sighed. She hadn’t assumed Raeka would understand. How to get across the emotions and memories connected with that particular thing to someone born on a world lightyears away from Earth? From a society that was infinitely more different, and more complicated, than a human could ever imagine? Sara wasn‘t sure, but she pressed on anyway.

“Because it’s not only a fruit. It’s much more.”

She looked down at the bedding, smoothed the rumpled sheets with her hands, as if that helped with solidifying the memories.

“Mango reminds me of lazy mornings during holidays,” she started then, a little reluctantly. “Mom always prepared us mango for breakfast. We had a tree in our backyard. When she cut the fruit, the juice dripped down her hands, like gold glinting on the knife blade. I don’t know why but I remember that image so well. The texture of mango is slippery between your fingers. I always had a hard time holding the wedges.”

Sara exhaled, searched Raeka’s face for a reaction, before continuing.

„I’d be a sticky mess from head to toe by the time I finally managed to get hold on a piece. Then you bite into it, and this sensation of sweet creaminess floods your tastebuds, a hint of tartness tingling the back of your tongue. Tiny pinpricks of acidity.“ She sighed, a sound full of nostalgia. “It’s difficult to describe. Mango tastes of sunlight and warmth. I’m sure you would love it.”

Sara closed her eyes when the memory caught up with her.

“Funny how something I‘ve taken for granted during my childhood has become such a source of longing,“ she said in the end, her voice soft. “Mango is home. Feeling loved and safe. All in a smooth, orange skin. But I’m far from home. Dad is gone, Scott is in coma, and Mom....”

She broke off in a frustrated huff, rolled over to gaze at the ceiling instead. Sara didn‘t want to be thinking about that right now, didn’t want to have Raeka worrying, or wondering about her state. The Ryder family was a big mess of problems better left alone. And most of all, there was a mission to focus on. Sara inhaled before turning back towards Raeka who was still propped on her elbow, watching her, like a statue. Only her eyes moved, searched Sara’s face.

The urge to mellow out her words stirred. Sara Ryder was a mess inside and not ready to show any kind of weakness, or at least, that was what she believed.

“Sorry for blabbing,” she mumbled, casting her eyes down when Raeka’s gaze got too intense to bear. Though Sara knew there was no need for an apology, the compulsion to excuse her own behaviour was strong.

But Raeka‘s answer wasn‘t what she would have expected.

"Don‘t apologize. It‘s the small things that make us go on. And if that means we‘ll plant a mango tree for you one day, then so be it.“

Sara looked up, met Raeka‘s deep gaze. Somewhere in the vast blackness, Sara realized there was no need to explain herself. She saw them both reflected, sitting under a mango tree, laughing, reaching up to pluck one of the fruits from a low-hanging branch. 

"Thanks,“ was all Sara said before drawing Raeka close to brush her lips against the salarian‘s cheek.

It was an image to treasure, one that would survive all the hardships. It was stronger than the fear of the kett, or the impossible search for Meridian. Two pathfinders sat in the shade, far away from their busy schedules, their faces sticky with juice. One day, this would be their reality.


End file.
